Even an ardent fan's spirits may sink at the news that Neil Young has made another film. Young may be among rock's greatest talents, but his two previous directorial efforts (Journey Through the Past and Human Highway) offer compelling evidence that he should stick to music. After all, narrative structure is not his strong point. He has been known to write songs that start out lamenting the Aztecs, break off to berate sometime collaborator Stephen Stills and conclude with aliens discussing marijuana.
Little has changed. Hunched over an acoustic guitar, Young performs songs from the forthcoming film, Greendale, which is about a family called the Greens. Surprisingly, he offers copious explication. For 20 years, Young has displayed an attitude to public speaking that would shame a Trappist monk. But at the Apollo he is positively loquacious, discussing his childhood, his working methods and the Greens' home town, the eponymous Greendale.
None of this helps to clear up confusion about the film's story, which involves the murder of a policeman and features a cameo appearance by Satan. By the end, Satan is spiking drinks, the FBI have shot a cat and an air of bafflement has settled on everyone present, with the possible exception of Young himself. During the interval, one voice compares Young's plotting to the famously incomprehensible clues on 1980s quiz show 3-2-1.
Yet the songs are Young's most affecting in a decade. One concerns an ageing hippy beset by stoned despair in a hotel room. You suspect this may be a scenario not unfamiliar to Young. It is certainly acutely observed, and set to a spellbinding melody. Others are mordantly witty blues: "That guy just keeps on singing - I don't know for the life of me where he comes up with that stuff." Young appears to be literally dragging the notes out of his guitar. His knees tremble with the effort.
After the interval, he performs a few classic songs, which are still fresh and powerful as they reach middle age. It is impossible to say whether the Greendale material will have similar longevity. Tonight, however, it sounds as though Young is back on form after a string of middling albums. And, as the rapt audience knows, Neil Young on form is anyone's equal.
· Ends tonight. Box office: 0870 606 3400. Then at the Apollo, Manchester (0161-242 2560), tomorrow.
